— Melissa Evans @ 10:52 am — 
February 12, 2012For several years there has been talk about radiation from airport scanner but the Transportation Security Administration or TSA have continued to turn a blind eye to these “rumors.” That is, until this month, January 2012 when TSA finally decided to test airport security officers for radiation exposure. Imagine being a frequent traveler, local or international and having to pass these scanners repeatedly without choice. Doesn’t it make it imperative to have international travel health insurance? Technically, you are en route to your destination so radiation exposure could be included in your international health insurance. It’s worth checking on with your provider.
It might also concern you that just last December 2011, TSA required all government vendors to have equipment that would measure radiation exposure. The spokesman for TSA, Nico Melendez said, “TSA is dedicated to the health and safety of its employees. We continu
Hundreds of Christchurch companies are facing crunch time as the business interruption insurance that has tided them over since the February earthquake last year runs out next month. It’s expected some will have to close.
Business interruption insurance covers short-term financial loss arising from interruption to operations as a result of damage to the premises or equipment. Most policies only pay out for a year after an incident, so on February 22 businesses will be on their own.
Recover Canterbury business recovery co-ordinator Bevan Killick said it was a major problem. “What we’ve had in Christchurch is totally unprecedented.”
He said that in the past, a year’s worth of insurance would have been enough to get a business back on its feet, but many were now finding that it was not enough.
The judges have had their say and the votes have been counted! The winner of December’s My World First travel writing competition has been decided. Find out who bagged themselves a Kindle and read the winning entry now.
My World First is our monthly travel writing competition where entrants tell us about their first time travel experiences. And while the competition might still be in its infancy, we’re receiving some fantastic entries. Mandy Huggins celebrated New Year by running naked through the snow in Sweden, James Cook tried to remedy a broken heart by walking to Florence, Abigail Latham took her trekking talents to the extreme in New Zealand’s Franz Josef, Cheryl Pendry stood mere feet from rutting bison in Yellowstone National Park, Fiona Trowbridge glamped it up in Pembrokeshire, Stuart Hacking got chased by hashish dealers in Morocco and Peter Lewis was dazzled by vintage aircraft on a nostalgic visit to a Texan airshow. A tru
Hot off the tables of the top World Health Organization officers is a warning to those planning to travel over the holidays. First of all is the important need to get international travel insurance. International travel health insurance will protect you no matter where you are from having to pay exorbitant amounts for medical or travel problems.
Second is the warning from WHO about new flu viruses. This warning comes on the heels of 10 new infections from a flu virus in the United States which appears to be a variant of the swine flu. WHO has also said that they have alerted the medical communities around the world about new outbreaks for polio, human flu, small pox and SARS or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
The last outbreak of SARS happened 9 years ago and started in China before spreading to the west including Canada. That outbreak caused more than 770 deaths. The WHO is determined to avoid something similar happening this year end, and into 2012.
Home insurance is a complicated but necessary cost of owning a home and it’s vital to understand what your home insurance policy covers and what it does not. Otherwise, you could feature in one of those horror stories where people attempt to make a claim only to discover they are not covered.
There are two different types of home insurance, buildings and contents.
A clever analogue to distinguish between the two is imagining turning your house upside-down. Everything that falls out, that is not ‘fixed’ to the building, should be covered by your contents insurance. Everything else that is still attached should be covered by your buildings insurance.
Building insurance covers the structure of the main building of your house and its fixtures such as baths, toilets, fitted kitchens, central heating system, built in cupboards and so on. Usually, external fittings such as boundary walls, gates, garages, greenhouses, fences, swimming pools etc are not covered in a basic policy.
Up to 30,000 French women and perhaps tens of thousands more around the world may have to have defective breast implants removed after several suspicious cases of cancer, officials have said.
A decision on whether to order the removal of the implants, produced by the Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) company, will be made by the end of the week, after a report from the National Cancer Institute on December 23.
“The question we are asking is: yes or no, do we need to recommend to women to have these implants removed?” a health ministry official said.
For now, the official said, the “causal link” between the implants and cases of cancer “has not been established” and “there is no urgent health risk”.
Quoting several senior medical officials, French newspaper Liberation reported Tuesday that the decision had already been made and that health authorities will order the implants to be removed.
It was not immediately clear how many foreign women may have been given PIP products but the firm was once the world’s third-largest producer of silicone implants, producing 100,000 per year and exporting 80 per cent of its output.
Liberation said 300,000 women around the world had received PIP implants.
PIP was shut down and its product banned last year after it was revealed to have been using non-authorised silicone gel that caused abnormally high rupture rates of its implants.
Health officials said last week that eight cases of cancer, mainly breast cancer, had been reported in women who had received the PIP implants.
“It is urgent for all women who have PIP implants to return to see their surgeons,” French government spokeswoman Valerie Pecresse told LCI television, adding that costs of removal would be covered by state health insurance.
“The government will announce its action plan by the end of the week,” she said.